Best places to buy textbooks for college?

[CluelessDisFan]

amazon, and on a couple of occasions (not math) bought one edition older, and it never made a difference. That saved me $200 or more.

 

[Riverhill]

I have had good luck buying textbooks from Abe books. Great prices

 

[ThisIsJason]

Chegg.com is good if you are looking to rent. I used it twice and didn't have any problems.

Now just rambling....

The local community college has switched all the math/science classes over to custom edition books for the school. Of course they are all loose leaf so no sell back at the end of the semester. Also, no book=no class. So nice of them.

 

[luv2mickey]

Wow, I want to go wherever you go/went. If I buy a used and they use it the next semester, they still only give me $5. The most I've ever gotten back for a book is probably $20 for my psych. book. And I spend between $500-$600 a semester. Hopefully I'll never have to spend more than that.

This is our school also, I was shocked at how little they gave them.

I have three in college this year and I used Amazon, because I trust them.I only bought new because of the CD and internet code issue,(I did get them used for the novels)I new I was paying more but I didn't want the headache of dealing with it if they needed it. I am going to sell their books back to Amazon instead of the bookstore and then we can use the credit for next semester. I did get them used for the novels.

The cost of books depends on the major, my daughter who is a senior has three classes that don't even have books but my son who is a junior his books were $883.

 

[MOpGrad2013]

DS18's school uses MBS Direct. The books (used and new) often have a Guaranteed Buy Back price. For 6 courses, he needs 14 books and the final total was $498 including UPS 2 day shipping. He chose one NEW book and it was $190 (the used was $25 cheaper, but no buy back on this one).

Not all schools have signed up for them, but we were able to find the school and then just click on the classes. The computer automatically showed us everything required for the course.

The school sent us a voucher so we could just move it over to his account to be paid by scholarship, but you can use most common forms of payment.

 

[spima3]

DD18 has selected her classes for the first semester, but where do you find the books you will need.

I don't see anything on her schedule even remotely related to books.

 

[karliebug]

Have her check on her college bookstore link and there should be a place to type in her course and they will show you what books are needed for her section. Write down the isbn numbers of the books and then you can go on some of the websites mentioned here or buy them from the bookstore directly.

 

[itsMichelle]

I've come to realize renting textbooks from Chegg is the way to go - especially for books for classes that do not pertain to my major.

For other textbooks I purchase from Amazon as it tends to be the cheapest - but do a google search of the ISBN number as well. Sometimes books directly from the publishers can be the cheapest.

Be careful when buying books - the paperback versions can sometimes be cheaper then the used hardcovers but the catch is you cannot sell those back.

When selling textbooks back I also prefer to sell to Chegg or worst case Amazon. My school bookstore only gives you like 5$ per book where as the other two will give you a much better return - between 25-50$ from experience. Chegg gave me 80$ for a textbook that cost me ~200. Not a bad deal.

 

[DCbride]

Another vote for Chegg!

 

[windycitymom]

Check out www.GetTextbooks.com You can do comparision shopping and see if it's cheaper to buy used or rent. If I buy used, then I also sell back the book when it's done. I don't necessarily sell it back to the same site, but whatever site gives me the best money.

 

[Momoftwins+1]

I just graduated in May and used www.bigwords.com, B&N Rental, Amazon etc. I rented quite a few books that I knew didn't come with online labs/codes/CDs etc. (ie novels, many humanities classes that just require written word books). Now for business classes such as my Accounting, Finance, Math, Economics etc...the majority of them if you don't buy new you have to go online and buy a code from whatever online lab is attached to them ( a lot of schools are going to this mymathlab.com, myfinancelab etc sites because it has an auto grading feature but can be used to assess that proper items are being covered by instructors etc by administration etc and it makes it easier for instructors to track students progress/grades/test administration both online and offline for homework etc) The codes are not cheap so it is often cheaper to buy the bundle of new book and code, then used book and code online after.

Renting is so handy from online sources, especially ones that give you free shipping back to them. I saved thousands over my 4 years with renting the texts I could and hunting down the best deal for new ones when I had to ( my University bookstore NEVER was cheaper...ever...)

 

[twinmommyks]

Great resources! My ds17 will soon be heading to college in one year and I will remember these tips.

 

[TLuvsD]

I use www.directtextbooks.com, Barnes & Noble and Amazon. Since one of her majors is English a lot of the texts are a good deal from Barnes and Noble. I am careful to match ISBN exactly, that way she has the correct edition.

 

[anniemck]

My son will be starting college in the fall and I am hoping to find places that sell textbooks at a decent price. Our school told a friend that books can run approximately $500 a semester. I would assume that they are talking about new books from their bookstore. I made notes in the past (from this website) about places that sell and even rent used textbooks, but of course I can't find my list. I know there are a lot of people on this board that are familar with this and probably in the same situation. It would be a big help if you could list the places that you have used and also where do you sell them after the semester is over. Thanks for the help.

$500 would be beautiful... I have spent $750-$1,000 per semester for the last two years, this semester is the first that I am at $550 and that is because for two classes they are rental dvd's and the others are $100+ each for either renting or used from the school.
Amazon is where I would prefer to get my books if not available from the schools bookstore.

 

[tinkgirl1984]

Another vote for Chegg!

Me too! I never buy books unless I absolutely can't avoid it, and even then I try to buy used or get the e-book edition. I can't say enough good things about Chegg though. I've never felt the need to keep a textbook, so for me, being able to pay 1/4 or less of the cost and then ship it back at the end of the semester is perfect.

 

[Shleedogg]

I've used valorebooks.com for buying and selling when I was in college. They always had good prices. I see they now rent textbooks too. Worth a look!

To find your books for each class, you generally have to go to the bookstore on campus and look. They have it all laid out according to subject.

 

[spima3]

I finally found the site where DD can enter her classes and get the textbooks she needs for the fall.

However, after reading on amazon and other places, I don't see anywhere information regarding access codes, cd's, etc.

I did see on some of the websites posted here that they don't necessarily provide these items if you are buying used.

So how do you determine if going used will work? I was thinking we need to go to the college bookstore and look at the books themselves, but even then how do we determine if they need to be bought new or used?

 

[Momoftwins+1]

I finally found the site where DD can enter her classes and get the textbooks she needs for the fall.

However, after reading on amazon and other places, I don't see anywhere information regarding access codes, cd's, etc.

I did see on some of the websites posted here that they don't necessarily provide these items if you are buying used.

So how do you determine if going used will work? I was thinking we need to go to the college bookstore and look at the books themselves, but even then how do we determine if they need to be bought new or used?

SPIMA - your daughter should have a way to look up what books her classes require and if they have addition add ons, such as online lab code/cd etc. Rule of thumb I used for my last 4 years was if it needed a code/cd, buy new in a pack (by isbn online) because the code is expensive on its own online (more than the text sometimes) and CDs are not guaranteed with used or rented. If I would never need the book again for reference (non major, or information changing to rapidly to keep) rent it, if I would use it for reference and it had no extra add ons, used.

When in doubt, head to the school bookstore if its close enough, if its not give them a call, and see exactly what comes with each book needed. Then head out on your net search from there with the exact ISBN number ( the isbn number will change if it needs a code bundled with it etc...as they have ones that come in bundles prepackaged from the manufacturer and ones that don't)

 

[delmar411]

I finally found the site where DD can enter her classes and get the textbooks she needs for the fall.

However, after reading on amazon and other places, I don't see anywhere information regarding access codes, cd's, etc.

I did see on some of the websites posted here that they don't necessarily provide these items if you are buying used.

So how do you determine if going used will work? I was thinking we need to go to the college bookstore and look at the books themselves, but even then how do we determine if they need to be bought new or used?

If the book needs a code or cd then you can often buy those for $40 on their own online ($40 seems to be a standard price point) so if you look that up and add it to the cost of the used book then you have a good idea ow much the package costs used.

The school bookstore is always a rip off. Never buy from there or sell back to them.

She should also check the online school classifieds, there should be a book section where ppl are selling their books and neg. the price is easily done.

 

[Momoftwins+1]

If the book needs a code or cd then you can often buy those for $40 on their own online ($40 seems to be a standard price point) so if you look that up and add it to the cost of the used book then you have a good idea ow much the package costs used.

The school bookstore is always a rip off. Never buy from there or sell back to them.

She should also check the online school classifieds, there should be a book section where ppl are selling their books and neg. the price is easily done.

I wish my codes were that little...mine always ranged from 75-130...most being around 100 in price point. CD's I never tried to purchase after market so I'm not sure what those were running. I know my sons 5th grade social studies cd from a major textbook company (he lost his from his school) ran into the 90's for just the silly CD!